Dutch Elections

Geert Wilders is “very optimistic” about his chances, while People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (conservatives, VVD) leader Mark Rutte has seen his poll ratings rise in recent days.

The Dutch election is expected to have a massive turn out with some areas reporting up to 100 percent. The election is seen as one of the most important in recent Dutch history as anti-mass migration candidate Geert Wilders hopes to build on the anti-globalist momentum of the Brexit and Trump campaigns.

Millions of Dutch voters are going to the polls today in divisive elections

The Dutch election is seen as a test of anti-immigrant and nationalist feeling

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is likely to win, but see his share of vote fall

Geert Wilders prepares to cast his vote for the Dutch general election in The Hague, Netherlands. He has reason to be cautious after his Freedom Party (PVV) has flopped in past votes

The VVD’s 31 probable seats, in the Dutch Parliament of 150, is a drop of 10 on the previous polling results, according to reports by Dutch media.

It is believed the party has benefited from Rutte’s stance during the government’s recent row with Turkey.

Queues began swelling early at the polls today and the research institute IPSOS said turnout was already ‘a lot’ higher than at the same point in 2012 when final participation was 74 per cent.

Amid the tussle between Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Wilders, many of the 12.9 million eligible voters had been wavering between the 28 parties running.

Wilders voted in a school in The Hague, mobbed by hundreds of reporters, as final polls suggested he was trailing the Liberal VVD party of the outgoing PM.

He said: ‘Whatever the outcome of the election today, the genie will not go back into the bottle. And this patriotic revolution, whether today or tomorrow, will stay.’

Wilders’ one-page election manifesto includes pledges to close borders to immigrants from Muslim nations, shuttering mosques and banning the Koran, as well as taking the Netherlands out of the European Union, in a so-called ‘Nexit’.

‘Netherlands does not belong to all. Do you hear me? The Netherlands belongs to the Dutch,’ Wilders said in Tuesday’s debate.

In the same debate, Rutte said: ‘When people look for leadership, they look to me.’